Whitpain Tavern robbery suspect waives charges

View of the Whitpain Tavern on DeKalb Pike which was robbed early Monday Morning November 4, 2013. Police found robbery suspects car at Montgomery County Community College which forced the campus to close while they searched for the suspects. Photo by Gene Walsh / Times Herald Staff

WHITPAIN — Juan Carlos Garcia, the second of two men charged with the November 2013 armed robbery of the Whitpain Tavern in Blue Bell, waived the charges against him Monday to Montgomery County Court.

Garcia, clad in a green prison uniform, waived the charges against him before District Court Judge Robert Sobeck Jan. 13 and was returned to Luzerne County Prison, where he is being held on unrelated drug charges, according to police. He looked up briefly at two women who attended the preliminary hearing while being led out of the courtroom.

Bail remains at $1 million, his attorney, Justin Boehret of the Mullaney Law Offices in Red Hill, said.

Formal arraignment in county court was scheduled for Feb. 26.

Advertisement

Garcia, 20, of Hazelton, and Tyrice E. “Reek” Griffin, 41, also of Hazelton, allegedly forced an employee in the tavern parking lot back into the tavern at gunpoint around 1:30 a.m. Nov. 4, and robbed eight patrons and employees inside of cash, jewelry and cellphones, according to the criminal complaint. One employee was threatened at gunpoint to turn over the keys to a red Ford Mustang parked outside, another was forced at gunpoint to open the cash register and a third to retrieve a small safe from the tavern office, the complaint says.

Both were charged Nov. 16 with eight counts each of robbery, conspiracy, aggravated assault, theft, receiving stolen property, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and false imprisonment. Both were also charged with possessing an instrument of crime. Each count is punishable by a maximum 10 to 20 years in prison.

Griffin, who was also charged with fleeing or attempting to elude police, was held over for trial on the charges following his preliminary hearing Dec. 17 and is in Montgomery County Prison awaiting formal arraignment scheduled for Jan. 29.

Following the holdup, Garcia allegedly left the scene in a tan 2001 Mazda 626 with the safe inside, the affidavit says. While police chased Griffin, who allegedly left the scene in the stolen Mustang and eventually got away on foot, Garcia “fled undetected to North Wales,” the complaint says, where he hid inside the vehicle until being picked up by two other people from Hazelton.

Garcia and Griffin were identified as suspects and a warrant for their arrest was issued Nov. 15.

According to the Pennsylvania Judicial System website, Garcia previously pled guilty to robbery in connection with a Jan. 3, 2012, incident, and was charged with burglary, simple and aggravated assault in a Jan. 16, 2012, incident. The drug charges were levied against him on Nov. 6, 2013, in connection with a Nov. 1 incident, according to court records.